Trump asked to prevent nuclear war between Pakistan, India: report

Pakistan' Ambassador to the United States (US) Rizwan Saeed Sheikh has revealed asking President Donald Trump to intervene and help ease escalating tensions with India.

In an interview with Newsweek, the Pakistani envoy referred to President Trump as a man who wants to establish “a legacy as a peacemaker during his administration”.

“I don't think there is any higher or flashier flashpoint, particularly in nuclear terms, as Kashmir, he said, contending that the Trump administration would need to pursue a more comprehensive and sustained initiative than in past US attempts to defuse crises that have erupted between Pakistan and India.

“So, I think with this threat that we are facing, there is a latent opportunity to address the situation not just to focus on an immediate de-escalatory measure, or a de-escalatory approach, but to try and get this out of the way in a fashion that there is something more durable and lasting in terms of a durable solution to the Kashmir dispute rather than allowing the situation to stay precarious and pop up again and again at the next drop of a hat on this side or that side."

During his interview, Ambassador Sheikh rejected any Pakistani involvement in the Pahalgam attack and argued that the fallout of such an operation could only serve to harm rather than benefit Pakistan’s interests.

“Pakistan is focusing on a matter of a deliberate, considered, pronounced shift of our foreign policy... a pivot from geopolitics to geoeconomics.”

“We are focused on the geoeconomics side of our geography and our foreign policy. We are currently economically ascendant. The only thing that we need in terms of the broader region in such a pursuit and such a setting is a peaceful neighbourhood. We need a peaceful neighbourhood."

He went on to say it was outlandish and far-fetched, to blame Pakistan for it.

On the Kashmir issue, he said it would persist until a final settlement was made. "The dispute should be resolved. If it is resolved, one-fifth of humanity can live in peace. All the other issues between Pakistan and India are not major issues.”

“We do not want to fight, particularly with a bigger country... we want peace. It suits our economic agenda... it suits our nationhood. It suits every objective that we have currently. But we want peace with dignity. We would not want to do it, but if it is imposed, then we would rather die with dignity than survive with indignity.”

On violation of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) by India, Sheikh cautioned that if there was even an attempt, or a semblance of an effort, to stop or hold the water back for an agrarian economy, it would be a “declaration of war. All bets, he added, would be off if it was about the food security of 250 million people.

“If you threaten me with such a situation... which is existential... what response do you expect?"